Answered Prayers

I have very few Christian friends my age. This isn't a big deal as God has blessed me much in the Christian friends He has given me. However, in the past several years I've really wanted to find a way to connect with believers my age. It didn't seem to be happening at my church and so I started going to Intervarsity Christian Fellowship at Parkside. Although I made a couple of friends at IV, the overall experience was extremely disappointing. I did not find the fellowship or teaching I had desired. As a result, I gave it up. I turned the matter over to prayer. I asked forgiveness for trying to solve the "problem" myself and admitted that I knew that God had my best in mind and that if He thought I needed Christian friends my age then He would provide them.
Shortly thereafter, we started a college age Bible study at my church Thursday nights. It was a small group but the teaching was good and I enjoyed myself. As proof of my little faith, I had very little expectations for it. However, in the last couple months God has been graciously growing the class. We now have a really good size group of people from several different churches in the area! Thursday evenings have become my favorite time of the week and I look forward to Bible study with great anticipation.
Last week it hit me....God answered my prayer! And not only did He answer it (because of course we know that He always answers prayer) but He answered it in the way I was hoping for!
I was overcome with excitement over the work I can see God doing in the group and sadness over my slow reaction to thank Him for it. The whole experience started me thinking, how often do I do this? How often do I ask God for something (be it as small as getting to work on time or as large as finding the money to pay for the next semester of school) and then, once His answer has been revealed, accept it as normalcy and not a blessing from my Lord? The answer shamed me. So often I am quick to run to God with all of my perceived (and actual!) needs and then forget to run to Him again when they are provided for.
What is my point? Simply this: WE SHOULD THANK GOD FOR ANSWERED PRAYERS! Yes, God desires us to come to Him with our needs but this should not be the extent of our prayer life. It should not be the majority of our prayer life. Lets be quick to run to God with praise and thanksgiving....as well as petition.